DIY Michael Kors Fold-Over Clutch

Usually when I do a designer DIY I see the item in stores or on tv, fall in love with it and spend lots of time planning how I can make it myself… this was not one of those projects, lol. I was on Facebook and saw an ad for this MK clutch in black, clicked on it to see it came in brown and thought “I can make that!”. When we cleaned out the basement, I took apart the old headboard that was in our bedroom (see it HERE) because it was taking up so much space but I kept the leather which just happened to be perfect for this project! I lined mine with a neon yellow broadcloth just for a flirty punch of color and I love how this turned out. Aside from working with leather (which, let’s admit, is always a pain) this was a really simple DIY and would be even easier if you used a different material that was easier to sew! The designer version of this cost $750 and since I had already had all the materials to make this, my version cost me nothing… if you had to buy the materials it would cost well under just $20!

Start off by cutting your pieces: two 12″ x 12″ pieces for your exterior (mine is a crocodile embossed vinyl, find it HERE, currently 50% off!) two 12″ x 12″ pieces for your interior (mine is a neon yellow broadcloth, I can’t find it online but I got it at Joann’s) and one 10″ zipper (1). If you’re using a vinyl or leather, make sure you use a leather needle in your machine! Lay down one piece of lining and then one piece of exterior right side up on top of that and pin your zipper as shown (2) to those two layers. Use your zipper foot to sew the zipper on as pinned. Next, lay the second piece of lining down with the second piece of exterior right side up on top of that. Lay the sewn piece with the zipper right side down on top of those two pieces, lining the un-sewn half of the zipper with the top of the bottom pieces (3). Sew the zipper to these two pieces. Once the zipper is sewn to both sides, pin the clutch together, right sides of the exterior facing (4) with the zipper pieces folded down towards the inside (5). Making sure the zipper is at least halfway open so you can flip the clutch right side out after. Sew along the three sides where the zipper isn’t, using 1/2″ seam allowance, re-inforcing the stitch a few times on both sides at the top. Clip the corners and flip the clutch right side out. Make the tassel by looping six pieces of 10″ suede cording through a large ring an secure with either another piece of cording, or a very thin gauge of metal wire (6).Attach to the zipper pull and voila!

A couple of notes for full disclosure:

Once I attached the zipper in steps 2 & 3, I topstitched the layers on both sides right alone the zipper to help it lay totally flat. Once I went to pin all the layers together to do step 4, I realized I would have to sew through four layers of vinyl (which is next to impossible) if I left it topstitched. I took the top-stitching out which made things much easier. Once the clutch was done, I thought I could topstitch along the top (which I did) but with the bulk from the vinyl I couldn’t go all the way to the edges on either side which probably wouldn’t have been all that noticeable except I was using beige thread, lol. I’d suggest not topstitching unless you have a thinner fabric, in which case I’d topstitch after step 3!

Hi! loved this DIY! Just a comment about your “full disclosure”: if you removed the stitching, did it leave noticeable holes behind? If so, you could always redo your stitch by hand using the holes that are there. Also, when going through thicker layers, can you maybe ‘walk the needle’ by manually turning the hand wheel on your machine?

That’s actually a fantastic idea, I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing that! It did leave holes but since I was using a brand new leather needle they were very tiny and after ironing over it with a damp cloth they were almost unnoticeable but if I hadn’t ironed them I could have definitely followed them with a hand needle! I tried walking the needle at the end but with the bump from the zipper and the seams it just wasn’t working… probably if I had more patience it would have worked! Thanks for the suggestion!